


Wolfsbane

by orphan_account



Category: RWBY
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Forced Relationship, Heavy Angst, In which the author shows their love by harming their favorite characters irreparably, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Physical Abuse, Ruby Rose has the Worst Time Ever, Science Experiments, The Author Regrets Nothing, and yet somehow Everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 12:24:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17446949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A Rose withers in captivity and dies. From the soil springs a new plant entirely.





	Wolfsbane

~~Ruby~~   **Wolfsbane** was a good girl, honest. She didn’t do anything that her  ~~owner~~ lover Adam told her not to do. She didn’t leave the room or take off  ~~the bomb around her neck~~ the collar that her darling had bought her, because  ~~she doesn’t want to be hit again~~ ~~~~she loves him

Her darling gets very upset when someone mentions “Belladonna”. Wolfsbane doesn’t know who that is, but maybe that’s because of the ~~madman with the needles~~  doctor’s medicines. She ~~was kidnapped and tortured and experimented on for months~~  got very sick during the summer and needed to be given some very powerful medication, and stayed with the doctor until she was  ~~too broken to fight anymore~~  better and able to come home.

The things she remembers from before- being a human named Ruby, and having a team of Huntresses-in-training... those are a fever dream. She was apparently unconscious for months, not quite comatose but not quite dreaming, but her darling was there to keep her safe the whole time.

Well, that’s what Darling says. She trusts him- he hasn’t led her astray yet...

...has he?

He tells her to cross out the day’s date- September 1st- on the calendar.

~~Ruby Rose would have been 16 in her fever dream.~~

———

**_Log 04_**

**_[9:15:009 PM VST, October 30th]_**

_Subject Rose has responded to the treatment well, her body adjusting according to the timeframe previously recorded on adolescent females. Subject Rose was brought in for treatment by **[REDACTED]** , and they paid a large sum of Lien to have their name stricken from all Facility records. _

_Our benefactor requested that Subject Rose was to be augmented with several mental and physical reconditioning implants, at our discretion- the money provided was to be doubled or tripled based on Facility performance._

_After studying the subject during her several days in our captivity, the augments were personally implanted by Facility Head Metzger-_   _activators_ _attached to the subject’s basal ganglia, thalamus, and ventral tegmental area, skeletal and muscular reinforcements, sense-cancellation neuromods, and an experimental memory storage device.  The subject was also administered several intensive rounds of memory wipes and chemical body cleansings._

_At approximately 8:57 PM VST (Vale Standard Time, appr. 8:57 AM AST [Atlesian Standard Time]), Subject Rose’s reconditioning pod was broken into by an unknown element during her memory wipe (the fifth of twelve scheduled that day)- they were detained and will be interrogated by the next Team to enter Facility Site 00-1._

_The full extent of damage to Subject Rose is unknown, and our benefactor was notified- their orders remain the same. Their concern for the Subject has been noted in Addendum 19-B._

_Subject Rose- whom the benefactor has instructed us should be able to respond to the name Wolfsbane- is also to be partially gene-modded with a provided DNA sample, which appears to be the blood of an adult female Faunus. Partial testing of the sample has revealed it to be comprised in some small part by **Canis lupus** genes, more commonly known as the grey wolf._

_Several of those in Facility employment do not have this irony lost on them- a Wolf Faunus named Wolfsbane is rather suspect- but such things are not to be discussed in a professional workplace. Our benefactor returns for his ‘bride’ the day after tomorrow._

_(I paid from my own pocket to administer as many serums and vaccines to the subject as I could. The child will not die of sickness or war. I only can hope she lives long enough to die of old age.)_

_(Should the gods exist, may they keep their eyes on Wolfsbane. Innocence like that needs protection.)_

_———_

Adam sees his pet project again on the 31st, arriving earlier than anticipated and eager to test out his new toy.

Adam smiles softly and runs his hands through Wolfsbane’s hair, which has taken on a blue-purple color like that of another traitor’s aconite-tinted locks. The gene-tampered Faunus leans into his touch with a faint smile and sigh, eyes hazing a little as the neuromods they had installed take their effect on her.

He chuckles and kisses her cheek. “So needy, little one... it’s like you’re an addict. You just can’t seem to get enough of me, can you?”

She blushes and nods, ashamed, her ears drooping and her hands balling up his shirt as they clench into fists. “I’m sorry.”

He rolls his eyes and gently takes her chin in one hand before kissing her softly. “It’s no matter, darling. I find it rather cute, the way you scramble after me like a lovesick puppy. Lets me know you’re too loyal to ever go against me.”

Her eyes light up a little and she starts to smile. “R-really?” 

The blind hope in her eyes is something he’s come to enjoy, if not value- most of those in the White Fang are bitter and broken by humankind’s disgusting ways, that blind hope and faith crushed beneath the terrible weight of reality.

(For a mere moment, he mourns Blake Belladonna’s innocence, remembering the little girl he knew long ago- the tide of bitter poison returns and that mourning becomes hate. He is viciously satisfied with the results of the experiments, knowing that if his pet and that _bitch_ or her team ever crossed paths they would find Wolfsbane to be nary even an echo of her former self.)

”Yes, love,” he reassures her, noting the way her shoulders cease to tense and a mix of pleasure and relief washes over her being. He smiles and adjusts her on his lap, making her blush. “Although I feel that we could show our love in a way that’s far more fun for us both..”

She whimpers. “B-but... I’m still sore from last night. You said we’d-”

“Shh, dear.” he mutters, putting a finger to her lips. “Just give me a kiss for now, okay?”

(He slips a small pill into his mouth before they kiss and slips it under her tongue with his before losing himself in the kiss. The drug is potent, fast-acting, and horrifyingly efficient on both Faunus and humans- she’s begging for him to touch her not even a moment later, and in his own addled state of being he’s more than happy to give her what she wants.)

———

She pants softly and curls up on her darling, mind still overloaded with the sensation of being with him. He digs his nails into her thighs hard enough to draw blood, but that’s okay. She bleeds because it’s him and she loves him, so her body is happy to bleed for him. 

The memories of her fever dream don’t come back when they’re entwined like this, which is good. She curls up with her back to darling and drifts off...

—

She wakes up as she hits the floor and muffles a yelp. ‘Darling’ looks at her from where he’s sitting up in bed and looks back away, pretending to be innocent. She whines and gives him puppy eyes. He raises an eyebrow, displeased, and she instantly stops, barely able to suppress her shaking. He gets out of the cot and walks around it, eyes as piercing as ever, and stands over her. 

“Wolfsbane.” 

She doesn’t move, but her ears swivel up as best they can to let him know she’s listening, her heart a jackhammer in her chest and about two breaths away from hyperventilating, tears threatening to spill.

(She would apologize, but she can’t find her voice- not when Darling is upset like this.)

———

Months pass and the dreams become faint. She’s trained to use twin hatchet-shotguns and a rifle. 

Her Semblance- speed- is always accompanied by a burst of wolfsbane petals that follow her trail, and she learns to make poison from them.

Darling goes and visits some of the other White Fang leaders, leaving her alone at the camp.

She makes a single friend, or at least what can be considered an acquaintance- a girl with color-changing skin named Illia, who is around her age (or possibly older)- they get along, although Wolfsbane knows that the girl fears Adam as much as she does.

When Darling returns, he’s beyond furious about something. People who he usually gets along with are tossed aside like old ragdolls. When he gets to his tent, he beats the everliving shit out of her and throws her near-shattered body into the dirt and grass outside.

None of the other White Fang members dare to come close, and she heals on her own. It’s torturous to feel bones re-break themselves and align back in place, to feel bruised flesh go from dull throbbing to searing pain as they’re healed by something in her body that she can’t control.

She spits up a few teeth and thick, coagulated blood before staggering to her feet and limping out to the edge of the encampment. She sleeps against the wooden palisades, tear-tracks dying her skin in fear and pain.

(She’s much less emotionally accessible after that, even to Darling. Her heart has grown armor.)

———

One night, Darling snaps at her. She buries one hatchet in his back and blows his brains out with the shotgun of the other, slipping on the ring she had slowly come to realize was controlling her. 

She takes his belongings and packs them up before murdering everyone else in the encampment. Her path through the continent of Sanus is marked with the blood and ashes of those who stand in her way, and she heads for the closest haven from the Grimm: the Kingdom of Vale. 

—

A strange bird follows her progress for about a week and she waits for it to come down after the day’s travels, killing any Grimm that assault her camp with lethal precision and blinding speed. As it lands, it changes and becomes a Huntsman she had read reports on: Qrow Branwen. He looks relieved to see her, for some reason, or at least as if they’re acquainted in some way, and the scent of booze that seems to linger on him is familiar in a way she can’t understand.

“Ruby?”

She adjusts her grip on her weapons, ears twitching as some tiny part of her soul cries out for ‘Uncle Qrow’ to save her. She forces that part back into the depths of her mind and studies him coldly.

“I do not know a ‘Ruby’. What reason do you have for following me, Huntsman Branwen? You’re interrupting my progress towards Vale.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sins are crawling down my back, but I cannot feel them through the fucks I’ve forgotten how to give.
> 
> Will possibly be the beginning of a series, but for now it’ll remain a one-shot.


End file.
